A Voice From an Adoptive Parent

My husband and I began our second Ethiopian adoption back in 2008. We had brought home our beautiful son in 2006. We wanted children so badly and fell in love with the country, the people, and of course our son. We knew our daughter was also “waiting” for us there. Our story causes us heartbreak not only because of what happened to our child and her family, but how selfish and naive we were. In hindsight, we genuinely didn’t know–we hadn’t found the forums.

We started with one of the bigger agencies Ethiopia to wait for our little one.

We received our referral September 2008 before our dossier was even complete. We saw a picture of a beautiful, healthy 10 monthy old. She sat sitting upright in a chair looking curiously at the camera. Her cheeks were full, eyes were bright, it was the face of a well loved child. The adoption agency director instructed us that if we didn’t turn our dossier in right away she would give our daughter to someone else. She had to be moved to the orphanage right away and could only do so with a “paper ready” family. We were told that her mother had been raped and she wished to place the child, so she could move on with her life. We moved quickly and got all our paperwork turned in. We were given a court date of January 2nd, 2009.

By middle February, we were exhausted and just praying that the adoption would work out. We passed court on February 13, 2009 and prepared to travel to Ethiopia.

I was in a state of emotional shock.

At the care center run by the adoption agency, pregnant woman roamed the grounds, they nursed their children, and they cared for the others. The director gloated about how she ‘saved’ these women and in exchanged for their children, got them work and housing. When we met our daughter’s mom, we did so only with the translation help of the director. As the mom began to tell her story she cried and I cried along with her.

The director remarked to me “don’t cry for her.” She was so cold and treated her mother as if she meant nothing. Her mom came back everyday requesting to spend time with her daughter, she even offered to take her while we went sightseeing. I said “no.” I thought she would steal her from me….

During one visit, in which we had no interpreter, we hadn’t had one since the first night, she looked at me and said in broken English, “I don’t like her….she promise me transportation money.”

Not really understanding what she meant, I must have given her maybe $25. She smiled and took it.

The last night in Ethiopia, her mother came again. She planned to stay until we went to the airport.

We began to eat dinner and she did not join us at the table. I demanded that she eat with us and the director agreed. Toward the end of the dinner, the director said something to her in another language and she began to cry, stood up, and walked out. I sat there confused about what happened.

We boarded the plane that night relieved that we were finally out of what we had dubbed “the Twilight Zone”.

We arrived back in the U.S. on March 8, 2009. I had never felt so happy to touch American soil. I squeezed my daughter tightly thankful we had made it out and I vowed to never look back. Our next days at home were overwhelmed with doctor’s appointments, settling in, and sharing pictures with other adoptive parents. About three days after arriving home, my dear little one could not stop vomiting. She was, in my doctor’s words “the most ill adopted child I have ever seen.”

She was admitted to a Medical Center. They ran tests to check for common infectious diseases. It was on that Saturday we received the most devastating news:

She was testing positive for HIV antibodies. That coupled with enlarged nodes on her neck and in her groin, vomiting and the diarrhea, the thrush in her mouth–the doctors feared the worse, that she was HIV positive and we were horribly unprepared.

I called the agency and posted on the agency forum what we were faced with. I demanded answers. I learned that the Mother tested negative three times to the AIDS virus and the daughter got AIDS from being breast fed by a “wet nurse”, a women hired by the care center to feed the babies, despite the fact that we sent formula to the orphanage.

Then we were faced by anew blow. Our agency director posted on their agency forum a horrible letter about us. I still read this and feel as though I might vomit.

My child’s mother had gone to the director of the agency seeking help, the help she was promised. She had no food and no money. She was given some money and turned back to the streets.

This, from the agency, was a reported, “Women’s Empowerment Program.”

We hired a talented Ethiopian man to compile a life book video with the true story of our daughter’s relinquishment.

I learned her mother had a relationship with the father, there was NO rape. She even hoped our daughter would meet her father one day.

The biggest blow came however, when we received a letter from the Adoption Agency’s attorney accusing us of defamation.

They were threatening to take us to court.

I continue to tell the TRUTH but I am terrified. We do not have the money to fight. The agency demanded $75,000 from us for their troubles and their loss of clients.